When scientists talk about the cryosphere, they mean the places on Earth where water is in its solid form, frozen into ice or snow. Read more ...

Service Interruption

On Friday, 06 February 2015 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (USA Mountain Time), we will be performing scheduled maintenance, which may cause temporary disruptions to our Web site, applications, and FTP. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Arctic Ocean

Life on a Drifting Station284 viewsA biplane landing near an iceberg, off the Laptev Sea. Image credit: EWG.

Life on a Drifting Station277 viewsRecreation could include climbing the large ridges and hummocks on the ice station floe. These often reached 10 meters in height. During excursions like this, one of the men would typically carry a rifle for protection against polar bears. Image credit: EWG.

Life on a Drifting Station255 viewsCables leading to the meteorology laboratory at NP-21 supply electricity from a diesel generator. Image credit: EWG.

Life on a Drifting Station247 viewsGenerators running on diesel fuel provided enough electricity to keep the camp well lit through the long arctic winter. Image credit: EWG.

Life on a Drifting Station264 viewsSunset at a North Pole station. The large antennae are for studying ionospheric processes. Image credit: EWG.

Arctic Buildings256 viewsHarsh and extreme arctic conditions required special considerations when trying to build any type of structure. Heavy machinery was used to construct and maintain the runways that allowed planes to deliver supplies. When not used for runways, tractors such as this one would be used for other construction around the camp. Image credit: EWG.

Arctic Buildings298 viewsEven if materials didn't need to be housed within a building, storing them outside also posed difficulties. Supplies were stacked on fuel barrels to elevate them above the snow and to protect them from melt water during summer. Image credit: EWG.

Arctic Buildings255 viewsAround some buildings in the summertime, "pedestaling" occurs because structures shade the ice and snow beneath from the sun's heat. Each subsequent summer adds to the height of the pedestal. This building on NP-22 reached 5 meters in height after seven years. Image credit: EWG.

Arctic Buildings279 viewsAlthough summers posed the hazards of melt water, the winters posed problems with deeply drifting snow. In winter, windblown snow had to be cleared from the entrance of this aerological (radiosounding) hut. Image credit: EWG.

Arctic Buildings262 viewsDue to changes in the ice floe surface, it was not uncommon for camps to relocate to more stable ground. This photograph was taken during the rebuilding of the camp NP-22 in 1980. Aluminum tent poles are at the right, and an overturned boat is at the left. Image credit: EWG.

Ice Hazards254 viewsMost of the time, the only way to deliver supplies to the North Pole stations was by plane. Weather conditions in the sky could be just as harsh and extreme as conditions on the ground. Here, a biplane is grounded after an accident near the Kara Sea in 1981. Image credit: EWG.

Ice Hazards318 views"Pedestaling" occurs in summer because structures shade the ice and snow beneath from the sun's heat. Although this supply bag offers an example on a small scale, pedestaling frequently occurred around buildings and large structures. Image credit: EWG.